The drive should give Gilbert some confidence, although it was a tough learning experience to finish the drive as they still trail, 14-6.Texas defensive tackle Lamarr Houston dove past Alabama QB Greg McElroy on a sack attempt, but scrambled back to his feet and still lassoed McElroy for an 8-yard loss in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Best Heisman affirmation<\/p>\n
There were plenty of naysayers in December when Mark Ingram became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner.<\/p>\n
But Ingram certainly looked Heisman-worthy on his last four carries of the first quarter when he reeled off runs of 18, 8, 9 and 9 yards.<\/p>\n
Best Heisman look-alike<\/p>\n
Ingram’s backup, freshman Trent Richardson, is considered by many to be as good as Ingram. Hard to argue with that when he took a handoff on a simple run up the middle midway through the second period and didn’t stop until he crossed the goal line 49 yards later. Texas’ defense was fast but not fast enough to catch the 220-pound Richardson.The BCS is completing the second of a four-year cycle that evaluates which conferences receive automatic bids. The champions of the Big 12, Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Big East conferences currently receive automatic bids.<\/p>\n
For the first time, two teams from nonautomatic qualifying conferences, Boise State of the Western Athletic and Texas Christian of the Mountain West, played in a high-paying BCS bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of us ever would have suspected 10 years ago that Boise State and TCU would be playing in a major bowl game,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cIt happened because of the BCS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burke Magnus, ESPN senior vice president for college sports programming, said 2009 was the most watched college football season on his network since 1994. Bowl-game ratings are ahead of last year and described the sport\u2019s fan following as \u201ca seemingly bottomless pit of passion.\u201d<\/p>\n